Claimed

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Iris POV

My name is Iris Evelyn White and I’m the sole survivor of the Blood moon pack. Since the slaughter of my pack, I’ve been in hiding for almost five years in America. I was found by a warlock named Eran. He was around one hundred and forty years old, but to humans, he didn’t look a day over fifty. He even looked like Johnny Depp and people would always ask if they were related. I was sleeping in the airport bathroom when he heard me growling at a waitress. I was not used to humans or knew anything about their lifestyles. 

I can still not believe I was lucky enough to find Eran so fast. He was also in hiding after his family was killed by a witch and hunters. He just sat next to me and acted like he was my father and comforted the waitress to make her stop crying. He told her that I was bipolar and very disturbed. I didn't know what that meant until a year later when I discovered the word in one of the books he forced me to read while we were running from hunters that found us.

Hunters are humans that have the ability to sense any magical creature and are a little stronger than your average mundane. You could spot the hunters with the scar they had. It was a single red scar on their necks to symbolize their heritage. Eran tried to explain that hunters were made by a warlock that wanted to get rid of the vampires in the year 1835. Eran has amazed me with all his knowledge and strange outspoken personality. He was in a way a breath of fresh air.

Eran is one of those rare people that is almost always alone and tries to fix what is broken and I guess I was his new experiment. I didn’t like that idea in the beginning but enjoyed his company a lot. Eran taught me about the human world and helped me to fit in completely. I wasn’t sure about him until he told me about his story and how he lost his family. He was alone and just wanted company. It was poetic in a way. We had both lost our families and found each other. 

We lived together for two and a half years. He gave me herbs to hide my scent and taught me about contact lenses and hair dye. I hated contact lenses and I really struggled with the hair dye, but it was necessary because of my famous white wolf genes. The gold eyes and white hair were like having a sign on my forehead telling everyone exactly who I am. I had to dye my hair every second day because my white hair contained magic that always shed or should I rather say rejected any human products. 

Eran also taught me to keep my wolf, Calla calm with art when I couldn’t go for a run. I always loved to paint with my father, but after his death, it intensified in a way that it has become an addiction to cope. I started having panic attacks like I did when I was small when I couldn't find my parents and Eran was in those moments my only lifeline. I missed my people, but Eran said I had to wait. It would be better if I tried to forget about the wolf community and tried to be a normal human. 

He never forced me to go to school, because he was afraid I would kill one of my teachers due to my wolf hormones that spiked during my teenage phases. I still don’t know how he coped with my anger problems during that time. Well, I did almost kill him when he joked about taking me to anger management classes. Anyway, I was really grateful that I could paint most days. I would always secretly take photographs of people and draw them too. I loved how faces told stories. One day a police officer questioned why I was doing it and I ran and surprisingly got away. That’s when I had to stop dying my hair red and switched to black. Eran was afraid they thought I was a stalker and I would get arrested. I started to draw landscapes to keep him calm. I would always paint the landscapes of Scotland because no place could ever compare. I decided to go to an art college when I turned eighteen because I wanted to learn more. I found art as the best painkiller. One day he took me to look at one of the colleges in New York and that was when I met my best friend Diane. I liked her immediately when I watched her trip a little boy with her foot that was insulting his mother. 

Eran introduced me to her and I was totally surprised that he had a niece that was completely human. He thought it was a good idea so I could practice maintaining my cover. She came to stay with us in Manhattan and then we decided to move in together as soon as we started at college the next fall. Diane really wanted to become a singer and convinced me to sing with her at gigs after hearing me in the shower. 

She taught me to sing and to be honest, I was absolutely terrified in the beginning, but I always pictured my mother singing to me and it became easy. Almost like second nature. Eran always joked and said it was only because I missed howling. I painted and Diane wrote songs and together we were any neighbors' worst nightmare. 

Diane was a personality that had no filter at all. She loved to party like any young human, maybe even more. Every time we went to a party it would always end up the same. Me carrying Diane up the stairs to our studio flat or me chasing away a drunk guy out of her bed. She made my life interesting alright and I couldn’t understand why she never asked me why I wore contact lenses. Always helped me dye my hair black every second day and to be totally honest she never once asked me about my past. Even when she found me crying in the shower more than a couple of times. I felt suspicious, but it felt good having a friend. She felt like my sister. My very irresponsible sister.

I was grateful that she never asked questions and I loved her for just being there for me in every way she could. I promised myself that one day that I would tell her the truth. But for now, I had a good life and had so much to be grateful for.

-------------------------------------

 I feel Diane throwing something at me and I turn my head away. Okay, I didn’t like her being there all the time! I try to stay in the dream where I’m hunting with my parents and Eric in the snow in Scotland. I was turning twenty-one today and it was the day I could finally sense my mate, but my mate was dead. I feel something hit my head again and grunt angrily because I want to stay there in my dream, that just shifted to the library where I was kissing Eric. Suddenly my body begins to shake and my eyes spring open to find a crazy-looking Diane standing over me. 

“Yes, I command you to open your eyes!” Diane says in a ghostly voice and I quickly rub my eyes. What was wrong with this girl! 

“DIANE WHAT THE HELL?” 

“HAPPY FREAKIN BIRTHDAY!” she starts to jump up and down and I tumble around still trying to go back to Eric in my dream. I grunt and finally grab her ankles making her fall down next to me. Her long curly brown hair falls on my face and her green eyes are twinkling.  “We’re gonna partyyy and get really drunkkyy..” She starts to sing and I throw her with my pillow trying to shut her up. I groan as she jumps up and darts to her side of our apartment. I crack my eyes open and finally stare at the clock and am shocked to see it’s already 01:00 pm. 

Diane throws a bag at me and I catch it in mid-air as the smell of coffee touches my nostrils. She bought coffee and not any coffee. STARBUCKS! “Ooeee someone’s coffee senses are activated again!” Diane sings and I stand up and dart to the Starbucks cup with my name on it. I put my hand up trying to quiet her as I take my first sip. The delicious black coffee dancing on my tongue is the liquid of the Gods!  I give a grateful sign. “Open the bag you’re wearing it to tonight’s gig!” she says and quickly grabs my coffee from my hand making me huff. I open the bag and find a beautiful black off-shoulder sequin dress inside. “Diane! It’s beautiful!” I exclaim and look up at her smiling face. She gives me back my coffee and I see she has a similar silver sequin dress lying on her bed. 

My mind wonders which coffee shop was so fancy that we would have to dress like this. I finally realize she’s not gonna tell me so I have to ask. She was so dramatic. 

 “Where is our gig tonight D?”  I try to hide the worry in my voice. Diane was an extreme sport for weird events. She once took me to a deep house mix club and I was horrified to discover everyone was ridiculously high on weed or something.

She grabs her dress and presses it against her chest and starts dancing around. “At your favorite gallery! That little fat Italian man... What's his name?” she asks, acting like Elle Woods in Legally blond.,

“Hilgard,” I say and roll my eyes because she knew that. “Oh yeah, well I walked right into Hilgard this morning and he was totally freaked out because his band canceled but luckily I told him we would do it for half price!” she says and I stare at her shocked, “YOU DID WHAT?”  she pulls a face at me and bursts out laughing, 

“I fooled him and told him we would do it for three hundred! And guess what! HE SAID YES!” she jumps up and down on her bed still clutching her dress. I can’t help it when I burst out laughing, we usually only charged one-eighty. Diane was a little money maker. “We get to go to the after-party at the 21 and over Nightshade club right next door! Talk about a twenty-first we’ll never forget!” I just laugh and take another swing of my coffee. Diane was also turning twenty-one in a couple of weeks, but she did have a fake ID so it didn’t really matter. 

“Please tell me you’ll get drunk tonight and hook up with some hot guy pleaseee?” She begs and I just shrug and finish my coffee. “Well, that’s better than a no! Let’s get ready. We only have nine hours left and I promised you, Burger King, today!” my stomach growls as if on cue and we burst out in a fit of giggles again. What can I say I was still a growing wolf. An Alpha to be exact. I needed to eat four times more than your average human girl.